


Behind The Mask

by TheBlueDayDream



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider - Fandom, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies), Spider-Man - All Media Types, The Amazing Spider-Man (Movies - Webb)
Genre: Coming of Age, F/M, Female Peter Parker, Fluff and Angst, Gale Stacy, Genderbending, Male Gwen Stacy - Freeform, Oscorp - Freeform, Piper Parker - Freeform, Uncle Ben dies, not Penny Parker
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-29
Updated: 2021-02-16
Packaged: 2021-03-02 00:33:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 3
Words: 6,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23916115
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBlueDayDream/pseuds/TheBlueDayDream
Summary: All Piper Parker ever wanted was to have a normal life, with normal experiences like any other teenagers. Getting high grades at school, acing her internship, going out with the boy she liked and maybe figuring out how to produce this bio-cable stuff (okay, so that last one wasn't that normal, but still).Except, she was destined to be anything but normal and she wasn't sure if she was up for the challenge.
Relationships: Peter Parker/Gwen Stacy
Comments: 3
Kudos: 24





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Sooooo I started another fic...
> 
> I don't know when this idea of female Peter Parker and male Gwen Stacy entered my head, but once it was there, it refused to leave so here I am, writing a story about Piper Parker and Gale Stacy, with a healthy dose of Netty Leeds. This would be a bit of a mish mash between The Amazing Spiderman and Marvel Cinematic Universe, so please bear with me. 
> 
> I want to write this not just as a rehash of the two movies not just with the pronoun of the main character changed from "he" to "she", but to explore what Spider-man would be like if he was...a girl. I try to keep everyone as in character as possible, but there would also be some changes because of the genderbending. I hope it comes off not too jarring and I hope everyone enjoy this little experiment. 
> 
> Disclaimer: I don't own anything at all, because otherwise I wouldn't be here writing fanfiction.

**Note: Quotes from this chapter are taken directly from The Amazing Spider-man.**

In truth, Piper hadn't wanted to accept the internship.

She was well aware that it was the dream of many students, and that not just anyone would be accepted when they only turned 15 two months ago. The email said she was the youngest person offered the position and really, she was flattered.

But Oscorp…well, that tall, imposing metal hunk in the sky was about the last place she wanted to be stuck in everyday for the next three months.

The place was riddled with bad memories. Piper didn't know why she had applied - at the time it had seemed like a good idea, if only to prove to Netty that no, she was _fine_ and Oscorp most definitely did not give her anxiety every time she looked at it.

Which was about as far from the truth as she could get.

Life had a funny way of working sometimes and so here she was, standing in front of the entrance, hands gripping the straps of her backpack tightly and silently debating whether it was too late to leave.

But the pay was good. That was the main reason why Piper had accepted. The pay was better than any part-time job she could get and God knew they needed the money. Aunt May had been pulling extra shifts and Piper hated the sight of the bags that had been forming under her eyes. Her aunt and uncle would turn away any money that she would give to them, but at least this way, she wouldn't have to ask for money for textbooks that she needed, or new clothes, or parts for the beat-up computer that she had been trying to fix.

"The money. Think about the money," she muttered to herself.

"Hey, you're blocking the entrance!" someone snapped behind her and Piper jumped, scurrying to the side.

"Sorry, sorry," she apologized profusely just as the woman swept pass her, all clad in dark blazer and high heels, and Piper felt it was prudent to add, "ma'am."

" _Don't_ call me ma'am!" the woman groused, but she was already gone before Piper could say anything else.

She swallowed, eyes trailing after the imposing woman. Piper hoped that that wasn't someone important that she had just offended, but knowing her luck, she might very well be.

"You're already making a great impression, Pipes," she said to herself. Shaking her head ruefully, she went through the door.

The inside of Oscorp was nothing like Piper remembered. The last time she was here, she was a mere 7 years old, all scraped knees and snot-nosed. In the eight years since, Oscorp had obviously updated the design of the building to an ultra-modern, highly advanced glass house filled with the latest technology. There was the giant holographic image of Norman Osborn, spreading his arms wide as he talked about the vision of Oscorp. Scanners were placed at every entrance to automatically identify visitors and issue temporary access badge.

"Er, thanks," she said, accepting the badge from the robot. On it read: "Piper Parker, intern" and there was a picture of her, taken a few months ago when she still had her braces. Piper mentally cringed at the image.

"New interns, please gather at the point next to the escalator and await further instructions," the robot informed.

She spotted the small group easily, milling on the left side of the escalator, though the sight of them made her stop in her track. They were all dressed in some form of business wear - there were the khaki pants and the pencil skirts, the white button-ups and the blouses. Piper felt horribly underdressed in her tank top, checkered button down and ratty sneakers. The email had said that this was a casual meet-up before they officially started working and had not mentioned any dress code, so she had gone straight here after school without changing.

Piper wished she had. Why hadn't she thought to bring along a nicer shirt?

Sighing, she approached the group. A few people were making light conversations, while the rest stood silently, staring at the escalator in an expectant manner. Piper spotted the girl that had snapped at her earlier and felt incredibly stupid for calling her "ma'am".

"Hi, I'm Piper Parker," she said to the girl. "Sorry about…uhm, earlier."

The girl raised an eyebrow at her and there was a note of scepticism in her voice when she spoke: "You're also an intern?"

"Yep."

"You look rather…" the girl debated for a moment, before settling for, " _young_."

Piper felt her face grew hot. The condescending look on the girl's face was one that she had seen far too many times and she didn't like it. But before Piper could give a reply, someone cleared their throat and all attention was directed towards the young man standing in front of the group.

"Hi, everyone. Welcome to Oscorp. My name is Gale Stacy and I'm a student researcher here. For today, I'll be your guide so if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask me," he said, a wide smile on his face. Piper couldn't help but think that he was the most well-dressed and attractive guy she had ever met and it seemed that several others in the group also shared the same thought, as one other guy promptly asked if Gale was single.

The group erupted into laughter.

"Any except personal queries," Gale added, a note of amusement in his voice. "Now, if you all will follow me."

One by one, they made their way up the escalator. As Piper looked around at the sprawling reception area, she thought that things had gone somewhat smoothly so far. Certainly, she could make it through the next three months without any trouble. Then she would leave with a sizable chunk of money for her necessities and, hopefully, a glowing recommendation that she definitely needed for college scholarship.

* * *

Gale led them on a tour to see the common areas of the tower, where they will be working and the labs and facilities that they had access to. Everything was vastly different from the work space of her father that now only existed in her memories. Oscorp had spared no expense in equipping their laboratories and for the first time since walking through the door, Piper felt a wave of excitement at the prospect of getting to work in such an environment.

They also had time to get to know one another and Piper was relieved to find that none of the encounters she had was as disastrous as the first one with the girl, whom she had learned to be Madeline Kingsley. She particularly liked Max Benson, the one who had asked Gale if he was single, and had learned that aside from his wicked sense of humour, he also built robots that can process household trash in his spare time.

"I got my inspirations from Wall-E," Max explained, proudly showing off the pictures of the robot that he had at home. "Of course, he's nowhere near as awesome as the actual Wall-E."

"Dude, what are you talking about? This is amazing!" Piper exclaimed and after that, they had exchanged numbers, with Max promising to invite her over one day to take a look at his robot. Piper made a mental note to tell Netty about this.

After a quick break at the cafeteria, Gale led them back to the bio-medical lab where many of them would be working at. Piper was more into chemistry than bio-medical technology, but even she was impressed by the work they were doing there. Some of the projects sounded down right radical, if not impossible at the moment.

"Gather round, please. I'd like to introduce you all to Dr. Curtis Connors, one of the foremost minds here at Oscorp and also…my boss," Gale smiled, waving towards an one-armed man whom was vaguely familiar to Piper. She was sure she had seen him somewhere - maybe on the news, perhaps, if he was as brilliant as Galen said.

"Thank you for that very…ah, comprehensive introduction, Mr. Stacy. Welcome, everyone, to Oscorp. As you already know, I'm Dr. Curtis Connors and yes, in case you're wondering, I'm a southpaw."

Everyone laughed at that.

"I'm not a cripple, I'm a former scientist and I'm the world's foremost authority on herpetology," he continued smoothly. "That's reptiles, for those of you who don't know.

But like the Parkinson's patient who watches on in horror as her body slowly betrays her, or the man with macular degeneration who's eyes grow dimer each day, I long to fix myself. I want to create a world without weakness. Anyone care to venture a guess just how?"

Someone at the front put up their hand. Having stood at the back of the group, Piper could only see the tip of their fingers, given that everyone here dwarfed over her.

"Yes?"

"Stem cells?" the person asked.

Dr. Connors shook his head ruefully. "Promising, but the solution I'm thinking of is more radical."

The interns around her looked at each other in confusion, murmuring among themselves. Right now, stem cells technology was probably the most advanced when it came to regrow organs, so Piper could understand their confusion when Dr. Connors turned down the idea. Dr. Connors had made clear he specialized in studying reptiles and wasn't it a few weeks ago that Piper had stumbled upon this incredibly interesting paper when she was looking for extra reading materials?

Written by Dr. Connors himself, coincidentally.

"No one?"

"Cross-species genetics," Piper spoke up, just loud enough to be heard. Everyone fell quiet and one by one, the people in front of her parted ways. Her neck felt uncomfortably hot, but she ploughed on, "A person gets Parkinson's when the brain cells that produce dopamine start to disappear. But the zebrafish has the ability to regenerate cells on command. If you can somehow give this ability to the woman you're talking about, that's that. She's...she's curing herself."

"Yeah, you just have to look past the gills on her neck," Max wise-cracked and the others laughed, but the smile on Dr. Connors' face wasn't one of mirth.

"And you are?" he questioned.

"Uhm…Piper Parker, sir," she said.

"She's one of Midtown Science's best and brightest," Gale supplied. Face red, Piper threw him a surprised look. How did he know that?

"Really?" Dr. Connors eyed her and there was something like recognition there. "Yes, of course, I'd expect no less…well, very good answer, Ms. Parker."

"Thank you, sir," she mumbled. The other interns were staring at her with a new found respect and Piper wished that they would turn away already.

Later on, at the end of the tour, Piper approached Gale.

"How did you…back there…do you know me?"

"Oh hey, Piper…wait, I can call you Piper right?" he questioned hesitantly.

"Yes, yes, of course!"

"Right. So I take it that you don't remember me then," he said, but there was nothing accusatory in his voice.

"I'm sorry---"

"No, it's okay. I remember you, though. I didn't know your name, but your face…this is not a very good explanation," he gave her an embarrassed smile.

"I've had worse, don't worry," Piper said jokingly.

"Okay well, last year Academic Decathlon. It was the final round and it was your school against mine, Trinity. We were so close to victory, you know, three years back to back," Gale let out a rueful laugh.

"I remember now! That was at the start of my freshman year," Piper exclaimed, recalling the first Decathlon that she had joined. The team leader had some reservation about letting a freshman with no prior training joining the team and originally, she was only supposed to be a reserve. But then Liz Allan had a stomachache on the day of the competition so it was Piper who filled in for her.

"Yeah, you completely destroyed us that last round. Midtown Science is no joke, but we thought we had it."

"Oh…sorry…"

"Oh no, don't say sorry! I'm not saying this to make you feel guilty you know," Gale smiled. "I'm just saying…I've remembered you since. You were amazing, honestly. I never thought that I'd see you again here though." 

"Guess that means we're destined together," she teased without thinking, then immediately cringed. Where had _that_ come from?

Gale raised an eyebrow in amusement. "Oh, really?"

Piper thought that if she blushed anymore, her face would remain a permanent red. Galen probably thought she was a huge dork.

"Uhm…I mean…that was just…"

"Hey, it's okay! I know you were just joking, I didn't mean to make you uncomfortable."

"Oh, that's…that's good," Piper breathed out in relief. For some reason, the last thing she wanted to do was to make Gale see her as some sort of creep.

"Listen, I need to wrap things up and go see Dr. Connors. It's great talking to you and…uhm," he hesitated a bit, hand fiddling with something in his pocket. "I'd totally understand if you don't want to…well, but if you don't mind, can I have your number?"

Piper blinked. That was completely unexpected.

"I mean, it's just good to have the numbers of all the new intern, just in case," he pressed on hurriedly. "I thought I could create a Whatsapp group for you guys, but if you don't---"

"No, that's fine!" Piper reassured him, pulling out her battered phone. "Here, you can put your number in and I'll give you a call. The screen's a bit…cracked."

Gale chuckled, taking her phone in his hand. "You should see my last phone. Now _that's_ what I'd call cracked. Well, here you go," he handed her phone back to her, his number punched in along with a clear "Gale Stacy" at the top. She pressed call and moments later came a faint buzzing sound. Gale immediately fished out his phone.

"Ah, fantastic! I probably should head over there. Listen," a sort of shy, hopeful look crossed his face then and Piper couldn't help but wonder what it meant, " let's keep in touch, okay? If you have any questions, or anything, text me. I won't mind."

"Not even when you're in the toilet?"

Piper resisted the urge to smack herself. God, she _needed_ a filter.

Gale laughed. "Not even then."

_Tbc._


	2. Two

Between school, Academic Decathlon practices and the Oscorp internship, Piper had the distinct feeling that she was slowly running herself to the ground.

She could quit any of them (well, she could quit the latter two, not school, because aunt May would flay her alive and dangle her bloody remains at the front door if she did that), but Piper found herself reluctant to do so. She liked her Academic Decathlon team and the challenge that they posed. Then there was also the fact that it would look amazingly good on her profile and two times Decathlon champion was definitely something that colleges wouldn't overlook, right?

As for the internship, despite her initial reluctance, Piper found that she enjoyed the what she was doing at Oscorp. Being an intern there was a lot of work, but she rarely had the chance to work with such advanced technology nor to learn so much about chemistry or bio-tech. It was a constant process of challenging herself and acquiring new knowledge. Piper would be lying if she said that the thought of that didn’t make her excited.

Aside from the official tasks, interns were given the opportunity to participate in a project of their choice and Piper had chosen the join the team working on a new type of bio-cable. Most of the compositions for the cable that they had tried so far had failed and none of the other interns or scientists seemed particularly interested, but Piper was always a sucker for lost causes.

Uncle Ben and aunt May were nothing if not supportive. They couldn't be prouder, they said, and uncle Ben had spent 15 minutes boasting to the kids in his class at the local vocational school. Piper had blushed to the roots of her hair when her uncle told her about it, but she was glad to have made them so happy.

Still, they eventually became worried that Piper was overworking herself to the ground. She had taken to arriving home around 7 or 8 these days, often with piles of paperwork bulging in her backpack or materials for the Academic Decathlon spilling all over the place. The bags under her eyes rivalled those of aunt May and more than once she had almost missed school due to oversleeping.

"Piper, sweetheart?"

"Mhh, yes, aunt May?" Piper mumbled distractedly look through all the notes that they had made on the formula for the bio-cable. Normally, she would be working in her room, but the kitchen table had more space for her to spread out all of the materials that she needed, as well as to set up the company laptop that she had been given for her internship. She doubted the clunky piece of technology that she had salvaged from the dumpster would have enough juice to run any of the equations she was working on.

"It's 11 in the evening. Shouldn't you be going to bed?" aunt May asked pointedly and the tone of her voice made Piper look up for the first time. The worry was evident on the older woman's face.

"Oh, I didn't notice. I'm just…I'm in the middle of this really important thing and I think I'm kinda close, so…" she trailed off when a frown crossed aunt May's face.

"Listen, kiddo," aunt May started, sitting down on the seat opposite from hers. "I know what you're doing is important. It's all Greek to me, but I _get it._ But you can't…you can't run yourself ragged over this, alright? Nothing, and I mean _nothing_ in this world is more important than your well-being. If you can't take care of yourself, then you can't do anything else, do you get me?"

Piper rubbed her eyes, only realizing for the first time just how tired she was.

"Yeah I…I understand what you're saying. I'm just…I don't know…I just can't stop! I just feel like I need to be at the top of my game, you know? The people at the internship…all of them are older than me and most think I'm just some fumbling kid who got lucky and I just gotta prove to them that I'm _not_ a fluke!"

"Oh, honey, you're not. And I'm not just saying that because I'm your aunt and I'm terribly biased. I'm saying it because it's the truth."

"But what if it's not?" Piper asked in a small voice. "What if I'm just…that I just got lucky sometimes? You know, I feel like sometimes…sometimes they're right. I'm up to my _neck_ with homework and internship and decathlon. Maybe I've bitten off more than I can chew."

"Sounds to me like you're overwhelmed, Pipes," aunt May mused. "It's completely normal, actually. You're only 15 and you've just started something that you've never done before. If you want to quit---"

"That's the last thing I want, actually! I like Academic Decathlon and I like doing this internship."

"Then you just need to let yourself get accustomed to the new rhythm of your life. No one is born naturally good at anything, Pipes. Everything in life is about learning and improving, you know," aunt May smiled. "I remember when I first became a nurse. The reality of a hospital is nothing like that in training. I was placed in the ER on my second night and everything was happening so fast. People were bleeding and crying and screaming everywhere. I was scared out of my wits."

Piper swallowed. It sounded rather horrible the way aunt May described it. "What did you do?"

"Well, I was a complete mess. Fumbled my way around everywhere. My head was blank and it took a senior nurse screaming at my face to snap me out of it," aunt May chuckled at that, shaking her head. "The point is, every time you start with something new, you're bound to feel overwhelmed and incompetent, but that's okay. What's _not_ okay is getting stuck in place and not moving forward. You have to acknowledge that what you're feeling is not wrong, but also that you need to learn and to get better."

"Yeah well, I haven't figured out that part yet," Piper muttered bitterly.

"Baby steps, okay? Just take things in one at a time. And who cares what those people at your internship think about you? If you're going to get better, it's for you…not because you want to prove yourself to anyone else."

Piper stared at her aunt. She knew what aunt May was saying was right - she knew that.

So why couldn't she get herself to actually believe it?

* * *

Piper stifled a yawn as she leaned against the wall. The elevator was taking forever and she was more than ready to go home. It had been a long day.

"Hi."

Piper looked up and there was Gale, all pressed shirt and bright smile. It was a wonder how he could muster up the energy to be so cheerful when all she wanted to do was crawl into bed and sleep even though it was only seven in the evening.

"Hi," she said, but it sounded a lot more like "heh" to her ears.

"You…don't look so good."

"Oh. Uhm…that's…that's nice of you to say," Piper stammered, feeling her face go hot.

She couldn't blame him, really - her hair was a mess, there was a coffee stain on the front of her overalls where someone spilled their drinks earlier today and the bags under her eyes rivalled those of the pandas lazing around the zoos in Beijing.

"No, no, no…I mean…that's not what I meant," Gale said hurriedly, an apologetic look on his face. "I just meant that you looked tired, that's all. I didn't mean to…cause you're not…you don't _don't_ look good."

She might not be good at this stuff, but she hoped that it was what she thought it was.

"So you're saying…that I…look good?" she asked slowly, unsure if she had heard him right.

Was Gale giving her a compliment?

At her words, he cocked his head to the side. There was a strange look on his face that Piper's sleep-deprived brain was not up to decipher at the moment.

"Of course. I always think you look good," he said, in the most matter-of-fact tone possible, the same kind of tone that people use to talk about how the sun rose in the East and the sky was blue.

Piper blushed ten shades of red. The heat made the skin of her cheeks tingle and as the seconds passed it, she could feel it covering both of her ears and travelling down to the top of her chest.

_I must look like a right dork right now_ , she thought to herself, but she couldn't help it. She had never received compliments like that before, and certainly not from a boy as cute as Gale Stacy. It didn't help that he said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world, like it was a well-established fact that he always thought that Piper looked good.

_Always_.

What the hell did he expect her to say to that? 

"I didn't know you're in the habit of making unsuspecting interns speechless," Piper blurted out and then had to resist the urge to smack herself. It sounded wrong, somehow, and lame.

"Nah, not any interns. Just you," he chuckled, though the faint dash of red across his cheeks told her that he wasn't feeling as confident as she thought.

Piper stared at him, once again muted. She was a novice at things like this and her brain had practically slowed to a crawl at this point, but Piper could say, with confidence, that she wasn't a complete idiot. The conversation happening between them right now, the things that Gale was saying, the way that he acted - they must meant something, right?

Sweats pooled inside her palm and her heart was thumping loudly against her ribcage as she gathered her breath.

"Are you…are you _flirting_ with me?" she asked, hesitantly and full of apprehension. Because what if she was wrong? What if this was nothing and she was just making a fool of herself? What if---

"Yes," Gale said, without missing a beat. Then, as he continued on, he sounded less sure of himself. "If that's…if that's…what you want? Because I don't want to make you uncomfortable or anything. God no! I really should have check before I---"

"Gale, stop."

His mouth snapped shut at her words. He was looking at her now, really looked, and when he saw the shy smile on her face, his lips curved up into a half-moon that she thought was the most brilliant shape she had ever seen. Piper felt like a gazillion butterflies were break-dancing inside her stomach, but she welcomed them.

"I'm not…uncomfortable," she said slowly, feeling her face heat up again. "I don't hate what you're doing. I actually…well, _like_ this. So, yeah…"

"So do you want to…maybe…hangout? With me?"

"Like a date?"

"If that's what you want, yeah."

Piper bit her bottom lips, eyes straying to a point next to Gale's head. She wasn't sure what she want, if she was being totally honest. Before today, before this exact moment, she hadn't even considered the notion of going on a date with Gale Stacy. Mostly because he always seemed so unattainable and she was just dorky, awkward Piper Parker.

Also because she didn't know what she thought about him. Sure, he was cute and handsome and really, amazingly smart, but she had only known him for a few weeks and she had spent most of those few weeks trying to balance out everything that was going on in her life.

She liked that he was flirting with her. Did she like him? Piper had no idea.

"This is all a huge surprise for me," she said. "Like, you're asking me out and I'm super, super flattered. But I'm also…I don't know how I feel about you, you know?...I'm not sure what to say, to be honest. And I've never even been on a date. Or got asked out. Or have someone flirted with me. All of those things are super new to me and I don't know what I'm supposed to do or say."

Piper was rambling at this point and upon realizing that, she promptly shut up.

"How about we just take things slow? Just try it out and see how things go?" he offered in a voice that calmed her slightly. "It doesn't have to be a date. And you don't have to worry about how to act. Just be yourself."

"Really? You're ok with that?"

There was that smile again that made her inside melt. "I just want to spend some time with you, Piper."

"Okay, okay, I think I can do that. This not-a-date thing," Piper nodded.

Gale laughed. "Can we call it _Thing-which-must-not-be-named_?"

"So you mean we're doing a Voldermort thing?" she quirked her eyebrows, grinning.

"Shh. Don't call his name!"

_Tbc._


	3. Three

"I still can't believe you landed this super sweet internship thing and even scored a guy in the process."

Piper rolled her eyes. She had lost count of how many times Netty had said pretty much the same thing ever since she told her best friend that she was going on this _not-a-date_ thing with Gale.

"I thought you don't care for guys, Netty?" Piper asked. Her friend had seemed awfully sure of herself when she announced, a few months ago, that she was probably a lesbian because the only people she found attractive were girls.

Specifically, girls who were older than them by at least a few years and who would probably never look at any of them twice, lesbian or not.

Netty shrugged. "I don't. But still."

"I don't know how I'm gonna juggle it all, to be honest. School, internship, decathlon and now a…," Piper paused, struggling to find a word to describe Gale. Boyfriend sounded rather presumptuous, but he wasn't really a friend anymore, was he?

"Friend with benefits?" Netty supplied, seemingly able to read her mind.

"No!" Piper yelped, looking around to see if anyone had caught what Netty just said. Fortunately for her, everyone else in the cafeteria seemed to be engrossed in their own conversations. " _What the hell?!_ "

"Just trying to be helpful."

"Well, thanks, but no thanks," Piper grumbled. "Anyways, are we still up for Friday night sleepover?"

"Hell yeah we are! I have my Konoha Lego set all ready."

"Sweet."

"And we can pick out an outfit for you to wear for your hot date---"

"It's _not_ a date!"

"---on Saturday," Netty continued on breezily, ignoring Piper's protest. "Knowing you, you'd probably wear jeans and T-shirt or something."

"What's wrong with my jeans and T-shirts?"

"Nothing, except that they don't exactly scream 'Come and take me, I'm yours', do they?"

Piper blushed furiously. "I _don’t_ need---" 

"Oh, look at the time. We're gonna be late for class, Pipes."

* * *

Netty made her wear a skirt.

Piper didn't know what kind of sorcery her friend practiced, but somehow, Netty managed to convince slash force her to put on a faded denim skirt that stopped a few inches above her knees. Netty had found the skirt stashed at the back of Piper's closet, one of the couple of that aunt May had gotten her but she had never worn.

And now here she was, dressed in a skirt and a white T-shirt, with her brown hair cascading down her back and her lips shining with lip gloss. Aunt May had even managed to squirt some perfume on her before Piper disappeared out of the door, so now she smelled strongly of lily of the valley.

No one had listened to her when she insisted, God knew how many times, that this wasn't supposed to be a date.

"You're going to be spending the day with a guy that you may or may not like, with the purpose of getting to know him more. Just the two of you. It _is_ a date, " aunt May had said, in a tone that left no room for arguments.

Piper couldn't deny her aunt's logic. Even Gale, when he first asked, had intended for this to be a date.

But for the sake of her nerves, Piper had decided that it made her feel better if she didn't think of this as a date. She might get too worked up and did something embarrassing, which was the last thing she wanted.

Gale was waiting for her when she came down from her apartment. He had wanted to come up to say hi, but Piper had decided that the combined force of aunt May and Netty might be too much and had insisted that he stayed downstairs. She didn't want to scare him off this early.

"Hey," she said shyly as she approached him, her eyes roaming over his body. He was dressed in jeans and a button-down shirt, looking far more casual than she had ever seen him. "You look nice."

"Hey yourself. Wow, you look…you look great!" he breathed. As his eyes travelled down to where her hand was unconsciously tugging at the hem of her skirt, a look of concern crossed his face. "Are you sure you're comfortable though?"

Red coloured her cheeks as she released her skirt. "No, it's…uh, it's okay. I'm just not used to…uhm, wearing this."

"You know you don't have to dress up, right?" he asked as they got into his car. "You can just wear whatever you're comfortable with."

Piper grinned. "Can I have that on record? My aunt and best friend are convinced that I need to look my best. And apparently to them, that means stuffing me into a skirt."

"You always look your best, Piper," Gale said with a smile.

"Even in coffee-stained overalls?" she asked teasingly.

Gale's smile widened. "You don't know? It's the new sexy."

"You're such a flirt," Piper said, rolling her eyes good-naturedly.

"I try."

They fell into silence as Gale steered the car into downtown traffic. Piper fiddled with her thumbs, willing her stomach to stop doing the crazy summersault that would surely make her sick. She wondered if she should say something to fill in the silence. People were supposed to talk on not-a-date things, weren't they? She had watched enough chick-flicks with aunt May to know that silence wasn't a good thing. So she _should_ say something, anything really.

The only thing was that…

"Why do you like me?"

…she tended to blurt out stupid stuff when she was nervous.

"Beg…beg pardon?"

Piper mentally cursed herself.

"I mean…I just wonder, you know. Why you have a thing for me. Like me, I mean. If you like me? I just assume, because well…you were doing that flirting thing and you kinda asked me out and…yeah. I just want to know," she let out a nervous laugh, terribly aware that she had made a mess of her explanation.

"Oh," Gale said softly.

"It's totally fine if you don't want to---"

"No, it's fine," he interjected, head turned to her side for a split second to give her a reassuring smile before turning back to face the road again. "I should explain anyways. I think I might have made you a bit confused."

"Well, whenever you're ready," Piper mumbled.

"So you remember that first day at Oscorp, I was talking about seeing you at last year's Academic Decathlon, right?" Gale asked, to which she nodded as confirmation. "Well, I think it started then. Me having…ah, a bit of a crush on you."

"That's…that was eight months ago," Piper said weakly, not expecting his answer at all.

He let out an embarrassed laugh. "I know. And upon reflection, that makes me seem like a bit of a weirdo. We didn't even talk then. But you were amazing and I just couldn't stop looking at you. Then I met you again at Oscorp for an internship that only accepted the best seniors and maybe a few juniors and sophomores, but then there was _you_ and I was…I guess I was captivated."

Piper sat silent in her seat, processing everything that he had just said. His confession made her out to be this amazing girl who had done amazing things and she wasn't even sure if she was really that girl that he was so captivated with. A tiny bit of fear trickled into her heart as she thought of what would happen when they spent more time together and Gale realized that maybe she wasn't that great after all.

That she was barely keeping her head above water. That she was just average Piper Parker.

But did it matter right now? They were just getting to know each other, after all, and Piper hadn't even decided if she liked Gale or not, so why was she so worried that he might eventually be disillusioned by her?

_One thing at a time, Pipes, one thing at a time._

So instead of voicing her doubt, she said, forcing her voice to be as light as possible, "So basically, you have a thing for me because I trounced you."

Gale laughed. "You make it sound like I have a complex!"

"Do you? I need to know."

"Ha, who knows? Maybe I do," Gale shook his head as he continued laughing.

Perhaps she was a tiny bit afraid of what the future might how, but for right now, as she sat with Gale in his car, laughing about silly matters, Piper decided that she would enjoy moments like this until she could no longer afford to.

* * *

"I think I'm in love," Piper declared.

Gale raise his eyebrows, amusement dancing in his blue eyes. "Oh really? If I knew it was that easy---"

"Not you," she interjected, a teasing grin playing on her lips. "This! This is the _best_ fried chicken I've ever had!"

Gale returned her grin with as much enthusiasm as he could muster, looking quite pleased with himself. They were at a food court in K-town, between Broadway and Fifth Avenue, pigging out on the most heavenly fried chicken that Piper had ever had. The sauce, the batter, even the tiny pieces of green onions sprinkled on top of the chicken were perfect.

Korean fried chicken (or KFC, as Gale called it) was the one thing that she never knew she needed.

"I can't believe you've lived this long without eating this. I think I'm here at least once a month."

Piper waved a drumstick in Gale's direction. "Careful, you might be developing quite an addiction there. But I don't think I can blame you. I can't stop eating!"

"Hah, I'd much rather be addicted to fried chicken than to drugs or cigarettes," he laughed, reaching for another piece.

Piper looked at the young man sitting across from her, smiling. When he said that he would be taking her for lunch, she hadn't expected that they would end up here, eating the most heavenly fried chicken that she had ever tried. She also hadn't expected to be treated to the sight of Gale Stacy with spicy _gochujang_ sauce sticking all over his fingers and colouring the skin around his lips deep red.

If he had seemed unattainable to her before, then he certainly wasn't now. Now, he seemed relaxed, carefree and almost childlike as he dug into one of his favourite food with gusto. As he tried to brush away the locks of golden hair that had fallen over his eyes with the part of his hand that wasn't sticky with sauce, Piper thought that he looked like a cute guy that she wouldn't mind approaching to strike up a conversation with.

Not that she had ever had the courage to do that to anyone, let alone a guy.

"Need help?" she asked, laughing as he failed yet again to brush away the stray hair.

Gale sighed, looking like he had given up. "Yes, please. I really should get a haircut soon."

"You need to invest in bobby pins," Piper quipped, standing up and reaching across the table to tuck the fallen locks behind his ears with her clean hand. Her eyes met his as she did so and she immediately sat back down, feeling the heat on her fingers where they had ghosted his skin.

"Uhm…thanks," he said, clearing his throat as he averted his eyes.

"No problem," Piper mumbled.

She might not be able to decide if she liked Gale yet, but she knew for a fact that she wasn't indifferent towards him.

_Tbc._


End file.
